Reading from an ADHD person during biblical times

Many of us have read through the Bible numerous times and the Lord will show you new insights every time.  But when in college many years ago, I was challenged by Dr. Phillips to find other authors who wrote during the first century.  He said for me to look at the Book of Barnabas as it would be a book I would understand.  Humm he knew me well before ADHD was a name.

Recently, I looked again at the Book of Barnabas online http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/barnabas-lightfoot.html   and in reading the book was reminded that he was a lot like me.  He had an attention issue which is reflected in him jumping from thought to different thought from verse to verse in the book.

We hear of Barnabas 33 times in the Bible as he was first  introduced in Acts 4:36   Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”).  While the other Christians were in fear of Saul during his transformation to Paul, Barnabas encouraged them to "give him a chance" because Saul had met Jesus and that was good enough for Barnabas.

During the reading of Barnabas, which I could keep up with as he moved from thought to thought, one verse jumped out at me.  Barnabas had been talking about the old Jewish ways to forgive sin and was quick to say they were no longer pleasing to God since Jesus died and rose again.  (Love his creative way of saying things).  Yet this one verse does a quick summary of previous verses.  
Barnabas 2:10

Thus then speaketh He to us; The sacrifice unto God is a broken
heart, the smell of a sweet savor unto the Lord is a heart that
glorifies its Maker. We ought therefore, brethren, to learn
accurately concerning our salvation, lest the Evil One having
effected an entrance of error in us should fling us away from our
life.

When was the last time you brought a sacrifice to God?  Are you brokenhearted for those hurting or lost? When was the last time you cried during a praise or worship song?  When has your heart broken for others and not just for yourself?  As for the second part of this verse, when was the last time you glorified the Lord?

Maybe we can learn something from an ADHD person.  

By the way, in reading the entire Book I can see why it was not included in the Bible.  Barnabas is hard to follow as his thought process is all over the map.  But that's the way God wired him and he was a Great Man of God!

Lessons From a Four Leaf Clover

As a youth I had learned from my mother that according to Irish tradition, those who find a four-leaf clover are destined for good luck, as each leaf in the clover symbolizes good biblical truths for faith, hope, love, and the fourth is for good fortune for the finder.  The majority of the clovers you see outside have only three leaves which aligns with the Bible.

1 Corinthians 13:12-13

¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Good luck can be hard to come by if you’re relying on finding a four-leaf clover.  The estimated statistical odds of finding a four-leaf clover on your first try is 10,000 to 1.  So as a child my mother would send me out in the yard just before mowing and said for me to find her a four leaf clover.  

Barefoot I would slowly walk in the patch of clover to miss the honey bees (which stepping on them and getting stung was a common occurrence) and then get on my knees to study a small area for the elusive four leaf clover.  For hours, my mind was focused and occupied on the elusive clover.  Over time I found out that I could spot the one special clover faster as my eyes would scan the area and not just focus on one small area.

Last night in about ten minutes I found two four leaf clovers just outside our house from life lessons as a child.  

Here my Godly life lessons:

1. Watch your step as you move into an area that contains your goals to avoid pain and destruction.  But move forward and not jsut stand still.
2. Be patient and do not trample on things you are looking to receive-the same applies to people around us -(Old saying) "Be nice to thouse on your way up so they will be nice to you on your way down".
3. Widen your focus to look at an area you may not have previously traveled and not on just one small piece of life.
4. Know that God has placed many things in nature that points back to His word, if we only observe.  Go outside an absorb what the Lord has created.
5. Train your mind to observe everything around you and look for the best in everyone.
6. Slow down and take a period of time to communicate with God. 

Guess I still have those life lessons in hand but memories of my mother and her wisdom flooded back into my head as I looked for the four leaf clover last night.  For a woman with a high school education only, God gave her more life wisdom than many scholars who have degrees as long as their arms.  

Bet you know someone like my mother.  Thank them for their wisdom while you still can.